WHO considers emergency committee meeting over Mpox

As a new strain of Mpox virus spreads to more African countries, World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has indicated intentions to call a special meeting to discuss the issue.

“I am considering convening an International Health Regulations Emergency Committee to advise me on whether the outbreak of mpox should be declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC),” he said on X on August 4.

Dr Tedros added that the WHO, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), local governments and partners are “further scaling up the response to interrupt disease transmission. But more funding and support for a comprehensive response are needed.”

This comes barely a week after Uganda’s Ministry of Health said they found two people in Kasese District infected with Mpox. The ministry said the infections were imported from the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has been struggling with the disease for decades.

Mpox, also known as monkey pox, is a viral disease that can manifest with skin rash which can last up to four weeks; fever, general weakness, sore throat, headache, muscle pain, back pain, and swollen lymph nodes. But it is not as infectious as Covid-19, according to scientists.

According to the Ministry, it can be prevented through avoiding physical contact with someone who has signs and symptoms of Mpox, not sharing clothes, bedding, or other personal items with infected persons, washing your hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitiser before or after touching sores/open wounds and vaccination.

Data from the WHO also indicates that in 2024 alone, as of May 26, up to 7,851 monkeypox (officially known as mpox) cases were reported in the DRC, including 384 deaths of the infected people as the new variant of clade I MPXV spreads.

The disease is also prevalent in America and Europe according to available data.